Global Ganja Report

Christopher Bartkowicz of suburban Denver was sentenced to five years in federal prison Jan. 28 after pleading guilty to three cannabis-related charges—despite his claim to protection under Colorado's medical marijuana law. Federal agents raided Bartkowicz's Highlands Ranch home last February and seized hundreds of plants growing in his basement. If he had gone to trial, Bartkowicz could have faced a life term because of a previous drug conviction. His release will be followed by eight years of supervision.

Bartkowicz will be the first person in Colorado to serve federal prison time for actions he argued were legal under Colorado's medical law. "This all seems like a script written by Lewis Carroll," Bartkowicz's attorney, Joseph Saint-Veltri, said in courtroom comments, refering to the Alice in Wonderland author. "Hundreds of [cannabis] plants are being cultivated within a mile radius of this building as we speak, and they will continue to be cultivated...because the people of Colorado want that to happen." Federal authorities said they targeted Bartkowicz because he grew more plants than Colorado law allowed, because he had prior state-level drug convictions, and because his operation was about two blocks from a school. Judge Philip A. Brimmer agreed, saying Bartkowicz "miserably failed" to comply with Colorado law. The raid came after a Denver TV station ran a story in which Bartkowicz boasted about how much money he would make growing cannabis under Colorado's medical law. (Denver Post, Washington Post, Jan. 28)

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